For those of you still reading, either you still need some convincing, or you aren't really sure what Predator is all about. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays Dutch, the leader of a joint Delta Force/CIA special ops group that is sent into the worst parts of the world to rescue other groups that are in way over their head. On Dutch's team are Mac (Bill Dike), Blain (Jesse Ventura), Billy (Sonny Landham), Hawkins (Shane Black), and Poncho (Richard Chaves). Joining their team for this particular operation is Dillon (Carl Weathers), a friend of Dutch's who has been sitting behind a desk for quite a while - but what exactly is their mission?
That's actually one of the early mysteries of the film. At first, Dutch and his team are told they are trying to rescue a downed politician, but they quickly realize the bodies they are finding are military and something inhuman is lurking in the forest.
As the team tries to make its way out of the jungle and to the appointed pick up zone, they start to find their numbers dwindling as a creature starts picking them off, one by one. What's worse is that this hunter isn't human, and much of his hunting technology is far beyond our own.
Predator did a lot to change the face of the sci-fi horror genre. For one thing, it didn't put the characters in some far-off location on the other side of the galaxy, or in some future time. The events of Predator were in the present and took place in Central America. On top of that, the film starts off feeling like a standard military film with a bunch of tough guys taking on some rebellious faction, but when the Predator makes his (camouflaged) appearance, the mood and feel of the film drastically shifts. Couple that with Stan Winston's imagination and John McTiernan's directing prowess, and the wonderfully cleaned up picture and audio that comes with high definition Blu-ray and Predator: Ultimate Hunter Edition just can't be ignored.
The Ultimate Hunter Edition has a new special feature called "Predator: Evolution of a Species" that acts in part as a retrospective on the film, and also ends up talking about the new Predators film since a good portion of the featurette interviews Robert Rodriguez.
The other special features includes "Red Suit" tests where the special effects team had to work with a red suit, instead of the customary green screen, since the jungle was very green, in order to make Predator's camouflage work, as well as tests of different types of camouflage to see what looked best.
There is also the original making-of featurette, "If It Bleeds, We Can Kill It," many outtakes and deleted scenes, brief snippets and interviews with various cast and crew members about the film, and even a few special features that were only Easter Eggs in previous releases.
Like I said above, Predator fans have been looking for this release for a long time. Any other readers out there who even have an inkling to pick up a copy of the movie should seriously consider this version. You won't find a better one on the shelves, that I can guarantee you.
